Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s remains were buried in secret in the Sirte desert in October 2011, but his ghost continues to haunt the world without respite. There’s even a person who claims to have seen the Guide praying in the South Saharan steppe in Chad in 2019.
In early October, the packets of mouldy, faded banknotes seized by French investigators from a cellar in Limoges, France were a tangible reminder of Gaddafi’s now legendary vanished loot.
READ MORE Libya: When Muammar Gaddafi played political football
The banknotes, full of history, are recognisable: they are part of €160m worth of notes in denominations of €100 and €200 printed and numbered in 2010 by Deutsche Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, at Gaddafi’s behest. Stored in a vault at the Central Bank of Libya in Benghazi, some of the banknotes became damp and mouldy after a pipe burst nearby.
Wide-scale money laundering
At the
There's more to this story
Get unlimited access to our exclusive journalism and features today. Our award-winning team of correspondents and editors report from over 54 African countries, from Cape Town to Cairo, from Abidjan to Abuja to Addis Ababa. Africa. Unlocked.
cancel anytime
Already a a subscriber Sign In
Also in this in Depth:
Cut off
Niger still isolated after airports reopening Air France, Turkish Airlines and pan-African airline Asky have not returned to Niamey, despite the reopening of Niger’s skies to commercial flights early this month.two year deadline
Gabon’s new Prime Minister Raymond Ndong Sima: ‘I hesitated’ Heading Gabon’s new government, ex-opposition member Raymond Ndong Sima has taken up his post as prime minister of the transition.